CHAMPAIGN, ILL. – The Ohio State baseball team scored four runs in the top of the 13th inning to win 7-3 over rival Michigan in game one of the 2005 Big Ten baseball tournament yesterday at Illinois Field in Champaign, Ill.
Buckeye sophomore second baseman Jason Zoeller hit an RBI double to give OSU the lead, and senior first baseman Paul Farinacci hit a three-run home run over the scoreboard in left field to blow the game open in what was OSU’s fifth consecutive win in its final at-bat.
“They’ve been throwing me inside all game and I told myself that I wasn’t going to let another inside pitch go by,” said Farinacci, who finished 2-for-5. “(Michigan junior right-handed reliever Derek Feldkamp) threw me another inside pitch and I got on it and it felt pretty good.”
The Wolverines (40-16, 17-12 Big Ten) got a lead-off single in the bottom half of the 13th, but Buckeye freshman right-handed reliever Rory Meister struck out three of the next four batters to end the three hour, 18 minute game. Meister threw five and two-thirds innings of relief in improving to 8-0. He won five of those games since May 18.
“When we had the bases loaded, I knew we were going to get a few runs out of it,” Meister said. “Then (Farinacci) hit the three-run shot and I knew all I had to do was go out there and throw strikes, and that is what I did.”
It was OSU’s first extra-inning game of the season and the longest game in Big Ten tournament history at 13 innings. The Buckeyes are now in the winners bracket and face No. 2 seed Purdue at 3:35 p.m. today. OSU took three of four from Purdue April 8-10.
Yesterday’s game featured two of the conference’s best pitchers as Michigan senior right-hander and 2005 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Jim Brauer pitched 10 innings, giving up only five hits while striking out six Buckeyes. Buckeye sophomore left-handed starter Dan DeLucia threw seven and one-third innings, giving up just one run on eight hits with four strikeouts and one walk. Neither pitcher received a decision for their effort.
“For seven or eight innings (Brauer and DeLucia) were outstanding,” OSU head coach Bob Todd said. “In a close game like this, eventually they run out of gas and you have to go to your bullpen.”
The Buckeyes took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second when Farinacci hit a sharp ground ball up the middle that ricocheted off the glove of Michigan’s sophomore shortstop and Columbus native Leif Mahler. Zoeller and sophomore designated hitter Wes Schirtzinger, who both singled to reach base, were able to score on the error.
Michigan cut the lead to one in the bottom of the fourth when, with two outs and a runner on first, Wolverine sophomore designated hitter Brad Roblin doubled to the gap in right-center field, giving Michigan its first run of the game.
After giving up a lead-off single in the eighth to Michigan’s junior second baseman Chris Getz and allowing him to reach second, DeLucia was relieved by Meister.
Meister was able to get the Buckeyes out of the jam by popping up Michigan senior first baseman Kyle Bohm and ending the inning with a ground-out to short.
The Buckeyes were two outs away from putting the game away in the ninth, but after walking Roblin, Meister gave up a game-tying RBI single to Michigan’s junior third baseman, A.J. Scheidt, to send the game into extra innings. It was Meister’s first-ever blown save.
“I got a little bit too excited,” Meister said. “It was kind of like I was on a horse and I got bumped off.”
OSU had an opportunity to take the lead in the top half of the 11th, when it had runners on first and second with one out, but Feldkamp was able to get Zoeller to hit into an inning-ending double play.
The Buckeyes took the lead back in the top of the 12th inning when freshman right fielder Matt Angle hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Schirtzinger to give OSU a 3-2 lead. Schirtzinger was 3-for-4, scoring three times and walking twice.
Michigan wasted no time in tying the game at three after hitting consecutive doubles in the bottom half of the 12th and threatened to win the game after loading the bases. But Farinacci, who was playing just off the infield grass, fielded a sharp grounder and turned a 3-2-3 double play to end the inning.
“When (the ball) first came my way I was pretty excited,” Farinacci said. “(Michigan senior left fielder Matt Butler) hit it pretty hard and I knew if I fielded it I would have plenty of time to turn the double play. Once I let the ball go I knew it was done.”
Farinacci and the Buckeyes have now won four games in a row and 16 of their last 18.
“This team just doesn’t give up,” Farinacci said. “We don’t want to lose, we don’t want to stop playing, we have a lot of momentum and have played well for the last four or five weeks and we have a lot of confidence right now against whoever we play.”
